Editorial: Frustration over public-sector pay

7:30 PM,
Aug. 23, 2013

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, seen here on July 2 in Albany, pushed through some changes to New York's law that governs binding arbitration with municipal unions. Public-sector salaries continue to raise ire in the Lower Hudson Valley, where some of the top salaries are paid. Municipal leaders have hailed the changes ushered in by Cuomo, but say they aren't enough.

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| A Journal News editorial

Recent examinations of public-worker salaries and pensions bring the usual results: Lower Hudson Valley workers, especially police and fire employees, earn some of the top salaries, and end up with the fattest pensions.

Those findings - in an Empire Center for New York State Policy report on statewide municipal worker salaries and a Journal News analysis on local pensions - aren't likely to elicit shock from local taxpayers. Frustration, though, is expected.Tops in pay, taxes

The Empire Center found that Westchester, Rockland and Putnam fell within the top five counties for average ...